1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to protective sports equipment and particularly to protective equipment used in the martial art sports, namely, a karate boot or shoe which is used in such sport.
2. Prior Art
Various types of protective shoes and coverings have been developed for use in the martial arts. One pertinent prior art reference, U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,912; discloses a karate shoe having a pair of throughgoing slits extending from the opening of the shoe downward to the wearer's ankle bone where each slit ends in a circular opening allowing the top section of the shoe to be easily spread apart for insertion of the wearer's foot. A VELCRO strap is adhesively secured to the ankle support area to hold the ankle support portions separated by the slits together. The bottom of the shoe is open or soleless with the exception of two fastened vinyl straps, one of which extends across the bottom of the shoe in the ball of the foot area and the other extending across the bottom of the shoe in the area of the arch.
Another patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,722; which discloses a soleless karate shoe constructed of a casing of a soft resilient material having an opening at the top for the insertion of the foot and provided with straps around the top of the upper and around the open body to hold the shoe on the foot.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,657,477 discloses a covering for protection of a foot with a toe portion ending at the sole of the foot.
In addition, other patents relating to the present inventive subject matter are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,541,738; 2,814,887; 3,104,479; 4,361,970 and 4,495,715.
The above-noted references are provided as means for protecting the feet of combatants in karate or contacttype sports. However, the problem with these various prior art devices are that they do not provide sufficient protection at specific stress points and fracture areas of the foot and toes and therefore do not effectively prevent the occurrence of various injuries when being used. Furthermore, the shoes of the prior art patents because of their construction wear out or tear at contact and stress points. The aforementioned invention overcomes these problems with its unique construction and safety features by providing a protective right and left shoe adapted to significantly lessen the chance of injury to the foot and to the opponent.